Free Speech

Policy and Polarization

Numbers cruncher Nate Silver took a look at the recent New York Times poll of people who consider themselves supporters of the Tea Party movement, and noted that media habits were the most salient predictor of such support. According to Silver, “Tea-partiers are disproportionately attached to, and perhaps influenced by, FOX News. And they are [...]

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Homophobia at Purdue

The local media recently reported on a controversy at Purdue, where a professor had posted anti-gay opinions on his private website. Not long afterward, I had a call from a student who was curious about my opinion of the situation. She knew me as a strong proponent of equal rights, so she wanted to know [...]

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Protecting the Idea We Hate

I hate to beat up on the United Nations. I’m one of those “can’t we all get along” people who would just like to hold hands (metaphorically speaking) with people everywhere while singing kumbaya.  Plus, our increasingly interrelated world desperately needs an effective international body. The problem is, the U.N. keeps demonstrating that it isn’t [...]

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Whose First Amendment Is It?

                                  Ever wonder why freedom of the press was singled out for specific protection in the First Amendment? After all, the Free Speech clause obviously protected the press as well as other citizens. Why include a specific provision about freedom of the press?   The answer is that the architects of our constitution believed that [...]

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First Amendment Follies

< P > I n 1 9 9 3 , N a t H e n t o f f w r o t e a b o o k t i t l e d “ F r e e S p e e c h f o r M e b u t [...]

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